General Motors’ Australian Holden brand remains the choice of hooligans down under, as police in the Australian state of Victoria announced that 46% of cars impounded under their “hoon” laws. Ford is the second most popular with 16.7% of the impound share, while Nissan is third with 7.8%.
Holden’s Commodore has been Australia’s best-selling vehicle for decades, and the rear-drive chassis and plentiful supply of turbo six-cylinder or General Motors V8s means that cheap, powerful Holdens are easily affordable for young Australian enthusiasts.
Australian police have taken to crushing vehicles confiscated in cases of reckless driving if they are deemed “unsafe”. One police officer cited a vehicle without “ABS brakes and airbags” stating “I cannot, in good conscience, send that vehicle back into the community.” Many older Commodores (such as the VL series pictured above) did not come with these features, but remain immensely popular with young gearheads.
Despite their old-school muscle car flavor, North Americans stayed away from the two Holden models sold in North America, the 2003-2006 Pontiac GTO (based off the Holden Monaro) and the 2008-2009 Pontiac G8 (a rebadged Commodore SS).
[Source: Drive.com.au]
![Meredes CLS Shooting Brake: Lookin’ Fine in Winter Time [Spy Photos]](http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/wp-content/uploads//2012/02/Mercedes-CLS-Shooting-Brake-thumb.jpg "Meredes CLS Shooting Brake: Lookin’ Fine in Winter Time [Spy Photos]")
Why? In a report about hooligans and turbocharged 6 Cylinder VL Commodores, do you use a photo of an entrant at a LEGAL off-street drag meet, doing a burnout to heat his tyres. This is why car enthusiasts are so annoyed at the media helping police destroy our love for cars, with falsly portraying a HOON on the street. Either use a different photo or state where this photo is taken, and remind people there are LEGAL alternatives like OFF-STREET DRAG RACING! The comment about vehicles without ABS and Airbags, that means every car built without these features should be taken off the road and crushed whether they were hoons or not, funnily enough i don’t think that is going to happen, it is more of just an excuse to crush some kids car that the officer was peeved at.
July 29th, 2010 at 11:28 pm